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True Voice – Mohd Rafi

The following article was brought to my notice when Sharad posted it on MAS. The article has been trimmed down a bit keeping afloat Rafi details. However, anyone interested can go visit the source at http://tfmpage.com/forum/4980.6302.04.57.19.html

I am Swaminatha Iyer and I am 78 years old. I hail from Tiruchi and I am a part of music associations in Tiruchi, M’as as well as in West Bengal and Maharashtra.

I think it is wrong to condemn music or artists on either side of Vindhyas. Our Indian music is one of the few which has not been cleaned off by the western music though there has always been a influence. It speaks a lot of the richness of our music. Sometime back director of MTV had said that MTV westernized the music wherever it went but in India , MTV had to be Indianized for it to be accepted. A lot of this credit goes to the Indian film music.

I have been fortunate to have close personal association with Rafi, Sirkali, TMS, Dr. BMK, Kishore, SPB & KJY, PS, Mannadey and the one and only Lata Mangeshkar.

Comparisons are bound to come, but almost every artist or I have met considers Lata to be beyond comparison. Her talents are beyond anyone’s reach. Even Sirkazi used to talk of her singing like a die-hard fan as do countless others.

Now coming to the Rafi-SPB discussion. It might be difficult to convince an South Indian to believe Rafi is the better and at the same time Rafi crowd will never believe any other male singer comes anywhere nearer. There is one more mobile crowd, which is well conversant with Hindi and some south Indian language. Majority of them tilt to either Rafi or Kishore.

During one of my stays in M’as I had stayed with SPB. While talking of true voices he said, I don’t feel like half a singer when listening to Rafi. True voice is not a tech term but many in circle use it. Perfect example would be lata, but to understand consider our own PS who within her range is superb. People who do not have such true voices can never do justice to original. They generally underplay many parts of the song or fake it with bass/superficial singing. True voices make people like Sirkazi, Nusrat Fateh Ali khan, Lata… Inimitable. However since Sirkazi and Nusrat did not have the filmy voices their “real” following is limited to their local arena.

In addition to the true voice if the singer has a very good voice then in “most” cases he/she can better songs of others. It is this combination which makes Rafi stand out among the other male singers. There are many here who seem to have mistaken notions on a good bass and also on high pitch.

Bryan Adams does not require a monster bass in “Summer of 69” to sound real manly. It is the punch which gives that feel and that is decided only by the comfort level in most ranges (that is by what your throat can support). This you CAN never disguise with bass. Since people have talked about lack of manly voice viz. a viz. Rafi it was necessary to bring this point out. I have had the fortune of listening to most singers in studio and some times without a mike, practicing with MD’s.When Lata or Rafi do, the level is so high that people hesitate to even hum. It felt silly to sing in their presence (and it feels silly when someone says his voice isn’t manly).

In RD’s tribute when SPB sang “Aaja Aaja mein hoon” or “Chaand mera dil” it sounded only sweet and lacked punch if you compare with Rafi’s original.

Yesu once told me God has been partial to Rafi. He said “god gift term anavasyamaa romba common aa ippo use aardu”.. but idu Rafi kee thaan 100% porundu”. This person could sing “as intricately as a lady without sounding thin”, “cover any mood”, “versatility odey perfect example Rafi”. Yesu said most important is the comfort level over ranges which makes you feel God has been partial to Rafi. (But Of course in Rafi’s early career (1950’s) the voice was relatively feeble).

To people exposed to Rafi’s talent, these or any amount of praise can only seem less. I just wish he was alive and you people could get a live chance to hear him. Probably you can get hold of the DD album for the Geet Gaata Chal series where the first four episodes were dedicated to Rafi. Rafi is on camera singing “O Duniya Ke Rakwaaley” and many other songs. If you see and hear the last part you will realize why SPB said “impossible”. I think particularly those people who have talked about scales w.r.t Rafi should see this album. Its a known fact in industry that Rafi ruled high pitch and there is no male singer better in switching notes so easily. There are artists who can go beyond but then they sound strained or they don’t have pleasant voices when they venture into those territories.

Many singers of today are his compulsive followers. But they end up inheriting only part of his quality. Md. Aziz ended up with a sad voice. Mahendra Kapoor with a thick nasal voice. Anwar with a nasal voice. Sonu Nigam with a feminine voice. Rafi neither had a soft voice nor a heavy (bass) voice he had a good voice. Importantly did not strain at high notes, and voice if at all only became better at higher notes. If you see him singing it will remind you of Janaki. However diff the song is or the note is he will be smiling and singing. It is unthinkable that he cannot sing something.

There seems to be lot of talk about “Shankara Bharanamo” song. SPB has sung many a great numbers and things being said about this song in this forum are rather amusing, particularly b’cos 3 out of 4 people who can be called as singers will be able sing it and at least one out of 10 will sing it with the same effect. There are lot of other songs of SPB where this great singer has played with songs in total control. You will find most south Indian singers who have had a good exposure say that it is beneficial to learn Hindustani as it gives better breath control and improves expression.

Rafi was not only able to glide over a song, the important thing was that he could express each word/sound when singing. It is one thing to hold your breath, start and reach a crescendo (high note), as like in “Shankara”, “Anbey (Yennai kaan villaye)” it is different ballgame if you have to do it from low notes or suddenly switch notes. With practice the former can be done, latter requires a special gift. Rafi had a natural ability to do the latter. In “Tum joh mil gaye ho” there is such a transition in the “karwaan mil gaya” part. I have never seen anyone do justice to most of his songs in my life time. In “parda hai parda” quawaali the similar part is “kar doon to, Akbar mera naam”. In fact most of his songs will have these specialty as it was his natural ability to sing freely in a wide range at the same time giving that extra expression.

Whereas SPB takes us to heavens with “Idu oru pon maali”,”Ilaya nila” “bisiladarenu”(kannada), when he sings Rafi’s song it lacks the punch or expression, though it has the bass. But at least most agree that SPB does some justice to original, whereas most others murder the original.

One trivial point I would like to add is that singing in Hindi is harder. There are more “JHA”,”CHA”,”HA”,”THA”, “KHA”,”JA”,”FA”. These take away the breath faster. The more expressive you are the more air you are using up. Just singing from Nabhi will not help, your throat also needs to do a lot, for singing in Hindi, Bengali etc. SPB makes you fall in love with his south Indian songs but same cannot be said about his Hindi songs. If you just glide through words having these sounds, you will never be expressive. Doing this as well as reaching high notes is not easy. Rafi had this gift and that’s why it is difficult to imagine anyone else in his shoes. Song “Chalkaaye jaam” has so much expression that it is unthinkable how anyone can sing it. When Rafi switches to a high note with “Mitwaa” in the song “Chaahunga mein tughey” you cannot replicate it with bass. Most others will sound as if they are shouting in such cases. That man’s throat had the ability to freely sing at such levels.

Versatility is not just the ability to sing in various styles, more important is how good you are singing in those styles. You have lot of Ghazal singers today but when Rafi sings a Ghazal you will sit up and take notice. You don’t have to be part of the Ghazal listeners crowd. This is one important aspect. Whatever style you sing you should be able to pull the common man to listen and not just a particular crowd. Pick “parda hai parda” or any qawalli and it will stand tall among other qawalli’s.

Variety is amazing :

songs of Guru Dutt’s Khagaz key phool or songs like abhi naa jao chod key, Aaja teri yaad aayi, Aaj kal mein dhal gaya, Aaj kal terey merey pyaar, Aasmaan sey aaya farishta, Dil ney pyaar kiya hai, Deewana mujh saa nahi, Din dhal jaaye, Duniya paagal hai, Jaane walon jara, Dil joh na kaha saka, Dil key jharokon mein, Dil kaa bhavar, Chalkey teri aakkhon sey, Kar chaley hum fida, khilona jaan kar tum, Woh jab yaad aay, Woh hain jara khafa, Vaadian mera daaman, Pathar key sanam, Chaand mera dil, Main zindagi kaa saath, Mainey poocha chaand sey, sun sun jaalima, Koi jab raah na paay, hum to chaley pardes, badan pey sitaarey, laal chadi maidaan, Tum jo mil gaye, O meri shaahey, Sau baar janam lengey, Tum mujhey yoon bhula, Tumney mujhey dekha, Terey merey sapney, Tumny pukaara hum chaley aay

Name a situation/mood and Rafi’s song will be there on the top.

Swami

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3,776 Blog Comments to “True Voice – Mohd Rafi”

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  1. Depak Kumar Santoshi says:

    `the depth of romantiscism was sadly absent from ghantasala’s songs.

  2. Ratna Renol Tirwezi says:

    We know very well how to talk and how to behave with these aliens.
    if somebody from nowhere intrudes this site trying to glorify their idols, out of those two, we had not heard the name of one street singer before, and disrespect the greatest indian singer, rafi sahib, then what would they expect us to behave like.
    it is as if a some non-welcomed guest(s), come to ones house and start abusing the elder of that house, what should the resident of that house, welcome them and encourage them for more abuses or to throw them out. we are not disgraced people like them, and hence chose to get them out of our territory.
    they do not stop on this, they utters lot of lies as well. they write certain remarks and relate those to our greatest singer rafi saab, without quoting any links/solid evidences. in order to create a proof about their lies, they usually say like this that i personally met mohd. rafi sahab in a live satge show and he told me that sala sahab has sung so and so song much better than me, or i could not sing that particular song as good as sala sahab, or so.
    hence rafians must not get caught in their traps and should know that never ever rafi sahab praised ghantasala, as he was never impressed by a singer of such a low standard. sala hasen’t got anything special worth of praising. when mirror is been shown to them, they start crying altogether.
    last thing, this is one person, posting by different name; abhishek, bhushan, kishorefan, rafifan 1, Sandeepshrivastav.

  3. Hans says:

    dear rafians

    there is a very fine informative article ‘mohd rafi – the voice of unsung heroes’ by ravi kumar. this article has been posted recently. kindly visit that article and respond if you feel like responding. ravi kumar has done extensive research for this article.

  4. Hashmat Alvi says:

    Ghantasala’s voice sounds like Bhajan singer even when he sings a romantic song who sings like a bhaktjan in a temple but not at all like a playback singer. For being a playback singer there needs to be so many traits and nuances, voice modulations etc. which are completely lacking in ghantasala’s voice that was being a major part and it was the most disadvantegous part of ghantasala’s singing. The second one being his breathlessness.

    I give more marks to Anoop Jalota and Anuradha Paudwal who are considered now more better bhajan singers than ghantasala. Even the ghazals of anooip jalota was appreciated much before he switched over to bhajan singing.

  5. Ahamed Kutty says:

    I am from kerala and Andra pradesh from where gs is very near to
    us compared to punjab.i come to know about gs only from this divine
    site.that is the greatness of rafi saab.if rafi saab’s voice is not manly
    then why this kk used rafi saab’s voice for his film?it is very pathetic
    these barking people has to visit this site to tell something about their
    idols.

  6. Hans says:

    musharrafji

    this ‘jab jab bahar aayi’ is a tremendous song which does not get the attention it requires nowadays though it was extremely popular in 60s and 70s. lp gave top class music in the whole film. ‘jab jab bahar aayi’ comes 3 times in the film. one is picturised on bharat bhushan, the other is on his disciple and is sung by lata and the third is on his three children when they grow up, which is sung by mahendra kapoor, usha mangeshkar and usha timothy. there is another very sweet song ‘saat samandar par se’ by lata and others. watch this also on youtube.

    there is another song by rafi ‘mujhe bhool jana agar ho sake’, which stands among the saddest songs of hfm as per me. here is the link.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_ssePCN88w

  7. Hashmat Alvi says:

    Mohd. Rafi is the most discussed and talked about singer till date due to his mind boggling versatility which was also NIGHTMARE to Ghantasala when he sang the songs of Bhaletammudu in telugu, a remake of China town.

    If you listen those songs, rafi saab excelled in telugu as his voice heard so sweet and melodious. These GS fans have no reply for this stupendous victory of rafi saab over Ghantasala..

  8. Amal rajinder says:

    These ‘shor’s and ‘salas’ are “Ghuss Bethiyey”-intruders in this site, using derogatory language now. they must be called mad – dogs, biting every other persons. they have nothing to offer except their a…..s.
    they are as worthless as their idols.
    this site is dedicated to the greatest singer of hindustan, mohd. rafi sahab. they with their funny comments must put their tails in their a…s, and runaway to their barren sites belonging to their respective street singers.
    they have again started uttering the same lies which they are so habitual of.
    rafi sahib never ever praised ghantasala or kishore because they are not worthy of being praised by the most respectable singer and the king of singers, rafi sahib.
    rafi sahab did not know sala, kk was just an ok, a so so singer, this being the greatest remarks he could ever deserve.

  9. Sandeepshrivastav says:

    I repeat

    This is not a music discussion, in the name of rafi, ghantasala and kishore kumar, people claiming as false music lovers are fighting like street dogs, that is the better word for all the people here. Some people also do not know how to use proper language, and mostly so called self claiming rafi fans fall in this category in a large number.

    Maha devika ji

    please continue the discussion. There are some good rafi songs being discussed by you. I will also try to share some rare rafi songs, as and when time permits.

  10. Kishorefan says:

    Bhagchandani babu and others

    The advise specifically applies to rafi fans, they need to learn how to talk, we know very well how to talk, we never called rafi a useless, besura, hopeless, taalless and all less singer, it is the language of the rafi fans, I think you people are not able to understand my posts, i doubt very much, my post 3517 has not been read properly, does rafi fans know that rafi was a admirer of ghantasala and kishore ? Rafi fans your guruji praised ghantasala as the greatest ever playback singer : see post 11 in a article devotional rafi by a rafi fan who heard rafi live in a programme. How can you be called rafi fans, you do not have basic respect for rafi and his feelings and thoughts. Rafi too had categorically mentioned, he was a admirer of manna dey too, he listens to his songs frequently, rafi fans your minds are blocked, you do not remember your guruji’s statements and likings and neither have respect for rafi and his feelings and statements.

  11. Musharraf says:

    Hansji, post-3522,

    Thanks for the song of Taqdeer”. One stands marveled at the youthfulness of this song. Now please listen to another song of the same film. See the emotion expressed by this great singer.

    “Jab jab bahar aye”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrY6FIQcbYY&feature=relmfu

    Regards

  12. Sandeepshrivastav says:

    3520: bhagchandani ji,

    Your advise applies to so called rafi fans too who talk nonsense about legends, they are certainly not excluded.

  13. Sandeepshrivastav says:

    Bhagwat jacks, vishesh gupt, malhotra and all others

    This is not a music discussion, in the name of rafi, ghantasala and kishore kumar, people claiming as false music lovers are fighting like street dogs, that is the better word for all the people here. Some people also do not know how to use proper language. I appreciate maha devika ji, who has got tremendous patience and the way her presentation and liking towards rafi, all other so called matured old guys, please learn from this young girl at least how posts have to be written.

  14. Ratna Renol Tirwezi says:

    kie? shor kumar was a “so, so” singer also known as an “OK” SINGER, IN OK THE ‘K ‘ STANDS FOR KISHORE KUMAR.
    SALA WAS BREATHLESS IN MOST OF THE SONGS.
    HE WAS NICKNAMED AS “BREATHLESS SINGER”

  15. Anurag Malhotra says:

    sala was the biggest thief of hindi tunes and his 80% breatless songs were stolen from hindi film music.
    he used to literally cry in his songs like a child or a woman,to express pathos.
    in the process the heroine of the song would get “intoxicated” and go to sleep rather than listening to his boring voice.

  16. Neel Kumar Pursaad says:

    SALA HAS BEEN KNOWN TO SING ONLY 3 SONGS,
    1. SIVA SANKARI.
    2. KUHU-KUHU TELUGU VERSION (SOUNDED RATHER KAAN, KAAN OF CROW OR DHENCHU DHENCHU).
    3. CHUL UD JA REY PANCHI (TELUGU VERSION) STOLEN TUNE FROM HINDI.

  17. Amal rajinder says:

    GHANTASLA IS THE BEST-BREATHLESS SINGER IN THE WORLD, NOT ONLY INDIA

  18. Ratna Renol Tirwezi says:

    KK AND GS
    (SHOR AND BRETHLESSNESS AT THEIR VERY DEPTHS)

  19. Ratna Renol Tirwezi says:

    wELL SAID MAHAJI,
    KISHORE KUMAR’S AND GHANTASALA’S,

    ( SINGING AT ITS EXTREME WORST )

  20. Maha Devika says:

    Rafi Voice ‘ takes ones? breath away,

    killing voice,

    kafir voice,

    Rafi voice, nothing but surr

    “Yahan Main Ajnabi Hoon”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BicQKfs2sfQ&feature=related

    listen to the starting of the song, rafi at his ultimate best.

    his voice does not need any music,

    melody at its zenith,

    surrs at their summit,

    sweetness at its pinnacle,

    ambiance at its acme,

    singing at its ultimate climax,

    this is ladies and gentlemen, the one, the only, the legend among legends

    Muhammad Rafi

  21. Vishesh Chander Gupt says:

    ghantasala was, is and always will be considered as a breathless, useless, melodyless, surrless, taalless, baseless, worthless, hopeless, shameless, courtesyless, soleless singer.
    for kishore, same tributes.
    their fans are clowns and jokers.

  22. Hashmat Alvi says:

    how come this KK and GS fans criticize Mohd. Rafi Sahab who had sung with 257 Music Directors and had sung more than thousands of songs and each song is more melodious than the other one.

    He is the millennium singer, the sweetest and more melodious singer ever born on Indian soil.

    GS and KK fans might be having no ears and a heart which could understand the language of music.

    How sad it is!!!!!!!!!!!! Kaash yeh log apne kaan aur dil dono se kaam lete..

  23. Hans says:

    fazalacharya/fazalkfan/fazalshrivastav or whatever you are who posted as fazal ahmed

    are bhai besharam kk/gs ke chamcho ye behuda harkaten kab tak karte rahoge. aisa pehle bhi tum kar chuke ho. kisi muslim naam ke aadmi ko lana pehle rafi fan tha fir kk ko suna to uska deewana ho gaya. muslim naam kyun lete ho ye bhi tumhen pata hai. pehle main ek khan ki pol khol chuka hoon. ek tumne imran ke naam se ‘rafi versus kishore the rivalry that never was’ naam ke thread men post kiya tha. wo bhi isi tarah pehle dono ka fan ban kar baad men poori besharmi se kk ke talwe chatne laga.

    pehle mere post 3140 ko padh lo jismen kk ki training ki pol khol rakhi hai. kauwa kabhi koyal nahin ban sakta kitne hi ustadon ke paas jaye. lomdi ki kahani to suni hogi jisne angooron ke liye bahut chhalange mari, jab nahin mile to khatte bolkar bhag gayi. yahi kk ka haal hai. pehle training lee phir usse kuchh nahin bana aur hfm ka band baja diya to kehne laga maine training nahin lee thi.

    jara ye to batana ye fazlu mian kab paida hue kab tak bachpan men rafi ke geet gaye aur kab kk ke fan bane. ye to aise bol raha hai jaise 70s men kk jawan tha aur usi waqt usne filmon men kadam rakha. kk rafi se 5 saal se bhi kam chota tha aur lata se ek mahine bada tha. rafi ne 1944 men gaana shuru kiya aur kk ne 1946 men. ye fazlu mian jab rafi ke gaane ga rahe the to inhen kk ke ganon ka pata kyon nahin chala.

    yahan in tricks ki daal nahi galegi bhai.

  24. Bhagwat Jaccks says:

    i am an indian born in london and brought up in Derby. i speak english and has great love for music. i have almost never heard indian songs. one day, i was talking to an indian friend of mine and we were talking about western music. my friend pradeep told me that how rich indian music was. his mother tongue is telugu language while he also speaks hindi quite well. he had lot of admiration for indian music and is a great fan of three singers, they are p-susheela, ghantasala, and rafi. i asked him to play some songs of his favorites, as i was also keen to know indian culture and customs. he played lot of songs for me which we had listened for the whole weekend, at night mostly.
    after hearing so many songs, i personally developed liking for that hindi singing chap, rafi. i found his voice very sweet, rhythmic, full of melody. in his voice, i felt youth. his range was enormous. the telugu couple was also good but the mans voice was a bit bristy or grainy to me. sush’s voice was though very nice to the ears.
    since he told me that there is lot of discussion going on, in this site, i felt that i should also share my feeling with all my indian friends.

  25. Ratna Renol Tirwezi says:

    No likings for 2XDhenchu singerS, Shor and Sala,

    THEIR BREATHLESS SINGING

    “NIRA SHOR SALA!!!”

  26. Hans says:

    mujhe achanak ek khayal aaya ke kahin ye kk/gs fans randwepan ki wajah se to frustrated nahin hain. randuwe ka matlab to samajhte hain na. aisa vyakti jis ki shadi na hui ho ya hui ho to beewi ya to chhod gayi ho ya bhagwan ko pyari ho gayi ho randwa kehlata hai.

    aise vyaktion ke liye rafi ne shadi karane ki pheri lagane ki sochi hai. suniye ye gana ‘humse shadi karwalo’ film ka naam hai ‘taqdeer’. mulahija farmaiye.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP_uPVUwBTc&feature=related

    vaise main notes ya octaves men to vishwas nahin karta kyonki sangeet ek azaad cheej hai aur use inmen bandha nahin ja sakta. par kala ka kamal to kamal hi hota hai. is gane men rafi ji highest pitch par pahunch kar bhi shabdon se is tarah khel rahe hain jaise bahut sadharan si baat ho. gaur se suniye jab wo mukhde aur antare ke baad haank lagate hain ‘shadi karvalo’.

  27. Hashmat Alvi says:

    Kabhi “Kawwe” aud “Gadhe” ki awaaz bhi surili ho sakti hai, yeh GS aur KK fans ko aqqal kab ayegi Jo koyal ki kook and papihe ki pukar ko nahin samajh sakti.

    Gadhe aur kawwe ki awaaz bhi badi bhari hoti hai………………

    sab rafi fans ne sach hi kaha hai : inki buddhi brahst aur kanon ki sama’at bilkul nasht ho chuki hai jo kawwe aur koyal ki pukar main antar nahi kar sakti.

    chullu bhar paani mai ***** maro

  28. J.K. Bhagchandani says:

    Bhattacharya Babu,

    Your post no. 3514 is a sure indicator of what I wrote on Post No. 3434.

    What non-sense you are talking? Are you in your senses? I suggest you (and Kishorefan) fully utilize the link that I had provided in post 3434. For your benefit, giving you that link again.

    http://www.bloom9.com/kolkata-doctors/kolkata-psychiatrists.asp

    J.K. Bhagchandani

  29. Kishorefan says:

    Neel kumar, bacchon ka nam le rahe ho, pavan ka nam, kitna level gir gaya hai aap logo kaan, bhattacharya ji ne post 3514 mein thik jawaab diya aap logon ko. Pavan ghantasala fan hai, itna bhi nahi samjh sakte hai, kab akal aayegi aap logon ko.

  30. Kishorefan says:

    One rafifan1 here, how greatly he has written about rafi in this site and in kishore forum as well: in fact he states that rafi is far superior to kishore in his posts (which we have argued against in kishore forum) today this man since he has praised ghantasala in some posts, he is categorised as a ghantasala fan, poor rafians, they are not able to identify who is a rafi fan or ghantasala fan or kishore fan!!! same fate will be store if they praise other songs (too mesmerising ones) ;;; lols and cheers,

  31. Kishorefan says:

    Wah bhushan bhai or bhattacharya ji,

    Aap logon ne eint se eint baza di, badhai ho, correct, they have no other option other than to criticise other singers (even if the songs are too mesmerising), otherwise their own fellow rafians will start shouting at them and categorise as a kishore fan or ghantasala fan, so poor rafians they need to support rafi only even if other songs are great, they are just caught like that, they are forced to act like that. Pity for them. I have read somewhere in rafi site itself that rafi himself was a great admirer of ghantasala and kishore, do not know what is the problem with these rafi fans.

  32. Bhushan says:

    I know rafi fans like pursaad ji are too mesmerised beyond words for ghantasala songs, but are forced to adopt a approach of critical views, lest they will be criticised for praising ghantasala in rafi website, understood and nothing wrong pursaad ji, I know
    what your original soul and conscience thinks, it is always different from your mind, i can understand.

  33. Bhushan says:

    Neel kumar

    The great mohd rafi saheb had heard siva sankari and was mesmerised beyond words, he felt short of words of appreciation for the song. However, these issues are of very long back i.e decades back in 1961 or so, hence, people forget all these, but greatness is such songs are discussed after 50 years of those singing by ghantasala, neel kumar ji, what do you say, even critics like you are discussing on that. Is that not enough for the greatness of the song ???

  34. Bhattacharya says:

    Pursaad, just hear some songs in sa re ga ma, even small children sing rafi songs, which rafi could not do in his childhood, 5-6 years children singing much better.

  35. Bhattacharya says:

    Pursaad

    Why so called pavan is singing g’s song, why he is not able to sing his original songs, what is the rationale behind pavan to sing g’s song. There is no other option for pavan except to sing g’s song, poor pursaad ji. i have heard pavan singing, no use, have a poor voice, that is why he is not known to anybody, perhaps forced to sing the great g’s song in programmes without any option and you people are not able to know even such simple things. Pavan will be remembered only for singing g’s songs and not pavan songs, even g alone is remembered there. What about you singing the song mr. pursaad, talking is easy, singing is very difficult, hope you are intelligent enough to understand.

  36. Neel Kumar Pursaad says:

    Bhattacharya
    i think you are weak in English, i said siva sankari is a mediocre song. consult a dictionary if your vocabulary is as poor as your mental health.
    you people are mere jokers but makes pathetic jokes as well.
    just listen to one mr. pavan, who ha sung the song much better than gs’ original. remember he has rendered it while singing live , and don’t be abusive

  37. Only one question to all kk fans …. if kk’s voice was so manly as you say then why was he not given patriotic songs ????. If kk’s voice was so emotional why was he not preferred any era for devotional songs ?? I agree that johny lever is better comedian than dilip kumar, sanjeev kumar, amitabh bacchan, naseeruddin shah , om puri but……… can we count him as a great actor of hindi films when we discuss the above given names ??? answer please……….

  38. kishorefan bhai,
    aap yeh kehna chaahte hain ki aap sirf romantic aur sad songs tak hi apni limit rakhte hain ? aur koi genre aap sunte hi nahi hain ? kyon ki kishore da ne bas itna hi gaya hai ! variety kahaan hai bhai ? woh toh sirf rafi sahab ne hi di hai … socho ……. patriotic , classical, ghazals, qawwali, toda,thumri, heer, bhajans ( devotional ) and so on….
    socho

  39. Musharraf says:

    Hansji,

    “Dil beqarar sa hai”, beautiful and melodious number. I have listened to it several times. Never gets old.

    Regards

  40. Hans says:

    kisorefan

    thoda dimag bhi lagao bhai. dilip kumar film men role to young hero ka hi kar raha tha to rafi ko to young voice men hi gana tha. main to dilip ka majak kar raha tha ke wo budhe dikhne lage the to bhi young role karte the. aur tum khush ho gaye ki chalo rafi ki ek galti pakdi gayi. itne kyun jalte ho bhai.

    kk ki to hazaron ganon men lakhon galtian hain, main kis kis ka hisaab rakhunga. wo to ek maine specially batai thi jo us hero par thi jisne pehle pahal kk ko mashhoor kiya tha.

  41. Bhattacharya says:

    Neel kumar pursaad -3503 Why do not you sing the song siva sankari and upload it here. We would like to listen to you and appreciate you if you think it is a very easy song. Do not talk nonsense and have some sense in talking.

  42. Kishorefan says:

    3506-hans

    Now what do you say ? You were hitting at kishore in your earlier post. What about rafi, for a old looking man (as per you), rafi sings in a young voice, What does that say? You were saying on ghantasala’s song earlier and regarding kishore kumar that kishore made a romantic song into a sad one. What is rafi doing, a song to be sung for a old man, he is singing like a young dude, you are caught in your own web.

  43. Hans says:

    now listen to this song ‘jab dil se dil takrata hai’ from film ‘sanghursh’ music by naushad.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAH5nK3h6i4

    note: listen this song with closed eyes, because dilip looks horribly old in this song, though rafi tried to make him young by his intoxicating song.

  44. ANEES says:

    Rafi immortalized many actors and one of them was Dilip Kumar ! As Dilip-saab mentioned, no day goes by, without his remembrance. Dilip Saab, the legend amongst actors and Rafi saab the legend amongst singers. Wow what a combo was that. Rafi sab’s voice gave a tremendous edge to Dilip Saab as an actor. Well almost all actors I should say. All actors, musicians and others who understand music have and continue to have the highest respect for Rafi saab both as a person and a singer.

    Translation in English:

    Name of the Article: Who Jab Yaad Aaye
    Appeared in: Marathi Daily – Sakal (Published from Pune, Maharashtra)
    Date: 28th July 2005
    Interview of Dilip Kumar by Mandar Joshi

    Introduction:

    There is never a day when you do not get to hear Mohammed Rafi’s voice. He was a person with no enemies and he had acquired a lot of friends. Superstar Dilip Kumar was one of them. Dilip Kumar has not been keeping well nowadays. But when he came to know that he will be talking about Mohammed Rafi, he very happily and instantly agreed. He became very emotional while remembering Mohammed Rafi. When the song – “Madhuban mein radhika” was mentioned, before saying anything about it, he hummed that song for a minute!

    Full Article:

    They say that human memory is very short. But I just do not agree to that and if you ask me a reason for that then I will mention Mohammed Rafi. On the coming 31st July, it will be Rafi’s 25th Death Anniversary. If human memory was indeed short then we should have forgotten him by now. But that has not happened. On the contrary, every single day reminds us of “Woh jab yaad aaye…bahot yaad aaye”. Be it newspaper, radio, TV or any music related program, you just cannot ignore Rafi. You cannot proceed without acknowledging Rafi’s contribution. I could spend some friendly movements with this Emperor of Voice and Melody and I consider myself extremely fortunate for that.

    Time is such a thing that it makes us forget good things while bad things, even if you want to, can never be forgotten. I cannot recollect the first time I met Mohammed Rafi. The meeting most probably might have taken place in Bombay Talkies. As such it is only after constant company that any friendship grows but in case of Rafi my experience was different. It was more like “friendship at first sight”….like they say … “love at first sight”. He used to look very handsome then. His personality was very impressive. As a matter of fact before his voice, it was his eyes that impressed me a lot. One look in his eyes then and I knew that I am going to have a very nice “tuning” with this man. After that I actually heard his voice for the first time and I could instantly get that this is no ordinary singer. He had come into the field of playback singing with complete preparation. It was this combination of his hard work and his natural talent which was there is abundance that gave him an extra edge. I had experienced this number of times in Bombay Talkies. All the emotions in his voice had made his singing ‘complete’ in all respects. Be it a tragic or a sad song, a light peppy song, a classical song or a romantic duet, he sang every kind of song with utmost ease. With Naushad, his singing used to reach even greater heights. Just listen to the song – “Madhuban mein radhika” which was sung by him and picturized on me any time. You would actually come to know what “getting overwhelmed” is all about after listening to that song. It must be around 5 decades now since that song was picturized. But even now every time I listen to that song, my reaction is still the same and I also get overwhelmed like any other music buffs out there. I just unknowingly feel like my voice has got mixed with Rafi’s voice and I have started singing. His voice had tremendous talent in it. But I would still like to say that some people exploited him. Some music composers made him sing some third class songs and Rafi was so simple a person that he could never say ‘No’ to anyone.

    He used to work very hard on each and every song that came to him for singing. As such I have done very few movies, but the songs that Rafi sang for me in these movies were all very big hits. Rafi had perfected the art of singing to suit the style of the actor on the screen. But for my dearest friend Johnny Walker, he simply created the magic. He touched the greatest heights of playback singing while singling the songs – “Sar jo tera chakraye” and “Ae Dil hai mushkil jeena yahan” that were picturized on Johnny Walker.

    My friendship with Rafi lasted till the last. We used to have lots of “get-togethers” in my bungalow at Pali Hill. Naushad, Anil Biswas, Rafi….lots of such people used to meet. In such ‘get-togethers’, I sometimes used to try to show the ‘magic’ of my voice. But what was special was that in spite of my terrible voice, Rafi used to encourage me by saying ‘wah-wah’. In late 60s and early 70s, people in the industry were gossiping abut how Kishore Kumar has dismantled Rafi”s position. But Rafi was not even slightly affected by it. I myself never liked any sort of comparison between Rafi and Kishore Kumar. But Rafi preferred to remain quiet. He never tried to answer the criticism that was being thrown at him with words. It was always his voice and his songs that used to do all the talking. Rafi is not amongst us today but his voice and his songs are still there with us.

  45. Raam Krishna Bharti says:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hgd9jnsphg
    listen to rafi at 0:41
    he sounds extremely cute.

  46. KISHOREFAN says:

    i think ghantasala kills the beauty of film songs by singing all in classical style.
    even in classical he is much inferior singer than mehdi hassan, ustad bade ghulam ali khan, ustad barkat ali khan, ustad amir khan, shafqat amanat ali khan,

  47. Anurag Malhotra says:

    Bhushan 3497
    are spb and you are the two persons in the world who only know rafi was not good in low notes and rest of the millions of rafi fans including the biggest names, singers, music directors, actors and so forth are fools, who all have the greatest admiration for rafi sahab. nobody except spb has said so.
    do not just talk in thin air, provide an example here to support your baseless allegations by providing link to a song where rafi could not have sung a song in low notes or has made errors. if you can not, then you must keep your mouth shut.
    we are not here to listen to your worthless comments. we also have no liking for ghantasala.

  48. Neel Kumar Pursaad says:

    we are rafi fans and his voice is more than everything for us. neither we like ghantasala voice, nor we want to discuss his singing style here. he has got his own “barren site” which is now much more barren than the sahara desert. people wanting to discuss him should revert to that site instead.
    to us his voice sounds quite bizarre with no melody and nothing special. we think it is not a must that enjoying singing and songs means liking his voice.
    we are living without listening to him and we are very happy with that.
    one more point, the song siva sankari which is considered the best telugu song has nothing special in it. it falls in mediocre category as far as difficult songs are concerned.

  49. Hans says:

    musharrafji

    i have read all of your beautiful posts. i liked 3299 and also others. kindly refer to my post 3151 for rafi-kk stats if you have not gone through that.

    you referred to gem of a song ‘tera husn rahe mera ishq rahe’ composed by hemant. this is one of my favourites. hemant was a very fine md, who did not get the fame which was due to him.

    now listen to another intoxicating song by rafi ‘dil bekaraar sa hai’ from film ‘ishaara’

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hgd9JNsphg

  50. ANEES says:

    Bhushan Ji (3485)

    are you possessing the music knowledge greater than the music directors with whom Rafi Saab had sung hundreds of songs, tell me what weight your opinion has got here. It simply shows your jaundiced-eye. Or you posing to be more worthier knowledgeable than Naushad saab, O.P.Nayyar and S.D. Burman.

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